Tournament of Champions
by mjc
Summary: Someone other that Ron interrupts Harry's conversation with Sirius, the night that Harry discovers the First Task is dealing with dragons.  She decides that Harry needs help with not only the Tournament, but many other things, as well.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Harry sat, staring blankly into the fire. He thought, as he stared at nothing in particular, about what he had just learned, when he heard the soft sound of someone moving stealthily down the stairs from the girls' dormitory. He looked up to see Ginny Weasley and two other girls sneaking down the stairs. Remaining still, he watched as they made their way toward the exit from the common room. Just as they reached the portrait, he cleared his throat. There were two screams and one muttered, "Bloody hell!". Harry snickered as he quickly figured out who said what.

"Miss Weasley, what would your mother say if she heard you using such language," said Harry, in his best imitation of Professor McGonagall he could manage.

"She'd probably tell you to go bugger off, Harry Potter!" spat Ginny, as she spun around, wand drawn. "Besides, you sound like McGonagall, with a cold."

Harry threw up his hands, "So where are you lot off to, at this time of night?"

"Nowhere, if you don't shut your bloody gob," hissed Ginny. "But if you really want to know, we were heading down to the kitchens to score some late night snacks, until you blew that plan. We won't make it there without Filch catching us. He usually takes twenty minutes to have a spot of tea...about ten minutes ago, now."

"Well, I may be able to solve that problem, if you don't mind another tagging along?"

The girls looked at each other, the one, Vicky something or other, thought Harry looked undecided and Demelza, the other girl was shaking her head no. Vicky turned to Harry and said, "How are you going to pull it off, just like you did to put your name in the Goblet?" before turning and stomping back up the stairs.

Harry was about to say something when Demelza said to Ginny, "I knew she was dense, but not that monumentally stupid, too."

Turning to Harry, she said, "Yes, we would appreciate your assistance, noble sir." She finished with a slightly overdone curtsy.

Bowing slightly, Harry replied, "Then first you must allow me to arm myself for the quest, milady." He turned and ran up the stairs to his room, to the giggling of the two girls.

Ginny's eyes went wide as she saw what Harry was carrying when he returned. She let out a low whistle and said, "Well, that prat who is also known as my brother, at least got that right," as she reached out for the cloth draped over Harry's arm. "And, I always wondered what happened to THAT," she added, noticing the folded parchment in his hand.

Demelza, for her part, looked at the two them as if they were stark, raving mad, until Ginny, grabbed the cloth and shook it out. She had Harry stand in the middle, between herself and Demelza and threw the cloth over their heads. "May I?" she asked Harry, as she unfolded the parchment.

Harry, too amazed to speak, simply nodded.

With a wicked grin on her face, Ginny tapped her wand to the parchment, saying, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

They made it to the kitchens without mishap or encountering Filch, but once there, the exuberant elves, led by Dobby, gave them enough provisions to launch an Arctic expedition, or Harry mused, feed his cousin Dudley for a couple of hours. Ginny charmed the serving platter to float lazily behind them.

"Damn," hissed Ginny, tapping the mound of food on the platter with her wand for the third time. "I can only get that spell to work about one out of ten tries."

"What spell?" asked Harry.

"Disillusionment. The twins taught it to me last year."

"Huh? Isn't that like Sixth year spell? Should THEY be learning...Oh...never mind, I can be dense sometimes."

Ginny snorted at Harry's response and said, "Yeah, Harry, you of all people should realize that if there is anything that can be used for mischief and mayhem, my brothers would have spent weeks trying to learn."

Demelza just stared at them, between glancing at the map and looking around the kitchen.

"Can you show me how to do it?"

"Sure. The incantation is _occulto_ and the wand movement is a sharp tap."

Harry took out his wand and tried it, much to his surprise, the food and platter slowly faded from view. Ginny threw the cloak back over them and took the Map back off of Demelza and led them back to the common room.

Once there, Demelza took some of the food and said, "I'll take some of this up to Vicky, maybe she's settled down by now." Harry and Ginny nodded at her as she turned to leave.

"So, Ginny, you do this often?"

"No, not too often. But why don't you?"

"Who says I don't? It's self defense you know...I fear for my pillow every night I don't. If Ron has another 'food' dream I like to be prepared, you know."

"Yep, that's my brother...the human hover...err...Hoover."

Harry laughed, for the first time in weeks, he really laughed.

"So, why were you sitting in front of the fire looking like your Kneazle died?" asked Ginny, taking a big bite out of a chocolate éclair.

Getting serious again, Harry answered, "Well, do you know the Flame Freezing Charm and something to keep me from being dragon kibble?"

Ginny's mouth went wide, in a silent gasp. "The First Task is something to do with dragons?" she finally whispered.

Harry nodded, looking glum once again.

"I'm sorry Harry, I don't...but Gred and Forge probably do, why don't you ask them?"

"But...isn't that...cheating?"

"And finding out what the task is beforehand isn't?"

"Point."

"So what were you thinking?"

"Well, the Disillusionment charm you showed me could be handy and well, not getting toasted sounds appealing."

"Yes, but do you know what you have to do with the dragon?"

"Take something away from its nest."

"Bloody hell!" hissed Ginny, "not just dragons but nesting dragons. Why don't they just throw whatever it is into a nest of basilisks instead?"

Harry snorted. "No, they wouldn't make it that easy for me."

Ginny giggled and said, "I guess not. But there's an idea. Whatever happened to that thing?"

"I don't know. It's probably still there. Why?"

"Well, the skin should be at least as tough as dragon hide and would probably make a pretty decent shield."

"Yeah, but we are only allowed our wands and what we are wearing. I'm not sure that would count. And I'm pretty sure it would be too thick to make into a cloak."

"You need to make some time to go get the bloody thing, it probably isn't going to last forever, but a basilisk will last longer than just about anything else. And it's yours. if you didn't know."

"What do you mean mine?"

"You killed it, right? Well, then because you conquered the bloody thing, its remains are yours to dispose of...right of conquest and all."

"Ginny, you are the first person to ever explain something like this to me. Most of the time everyone thinks I should either already know something or I'm too damn arrogant to follow the rules."

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.

"Exactly what I said. Nobody ever tells me anything. Hell, back in first year, Hermione knew more about my parents, mostly my dad's Quidditch career at Hogwarts, than I did. I never found half the stuff she did, until midway through last year and that was only because I finally asked Professor Lupin about it and HE showed me the Gryffindor Team Yearbook. Which I didn't even know existed after being on the team for two and a half years!"

"But..."

"Yeah, I know...I don't ask a lot of questions, so it's partially my fault too. But I do have a bit of an excuse there. I don't know what I don't know, so it's a little hard to ask, if I don't know that I need to ask. After a few years at the Dursley's I pretty much gave up on asking questions. It was a sort of unwritten rule...don't ask, it will be easier if you don't. And more than half the time, if they did answer it was either a lie or something so spiteful it was better off not getting the answer in the first place."

"So that explains why you have so much trouble with things like the Floo? Nobody ever explained it to you?"

"You mean that there is a trick to not getting dumped on your arse every time you use it?"

Ginny nodded, biting her bottom lip. "Yeah, there is. I can't show you now, but I WILL make time, since my prat of a brother, who is supposedly your best friend can't be bothered to show you all this stuff."

"Thanks, Ginny. I guess I needed somebody to do that. I didn't even know who to ask without feeling like a complete ass when asking."

"Oh, by the way, basilisk venom goes for around ten Galleons a minim..."

"That's about 24,000 Galleons a gill?"

She nodded.

"Holy shit! There must be a gallon of it down there! And that doesn't even count the hide or anything else, I bet the heart and liver would be worth a small fortune, too."

Ginny picked up another pastry and looked around. "I wish we had thought to grab some tea. A self heating tea set would be nice, but I can't afford one."

"What do you mean "self heating tea set"?"

"Just like it sounds, tea set that's charmed to fill itself with water, heat it and then you dump in the tea. We are allowed to keep stuff like that in the dorm, but most don't because they cost around 50 Galleons and not too many people want to leave stuff like that around where it could get broken."

"Where can I get one?"

"There's several shops in Diagon Alley that sell them, probably a couple in Hogsmeade, too...but I don't know, because the couple of times I've been there with Mum we weren't in those kind of shops. Why, you've got 50 Galleons lying around?"

"Well, don't get mad or anything, but yeah. I've got a pile in my vault that I don't know what to do with..." Harry used his hands to show her the size of the pile, "and well, if I'm going to get all that stuff from the basilisk, I guess I can afford it, right?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to get mad over that, but don't you need that to live on when you finish school? That size pile sounds like about 30,000 Galleons, if that's all it is."

"But the pile never shrinks! In fact it's bigger now than when I first got some money out, back in my first year."

"Then that may only be a vault for you to use until you come of age. I knew the Potters were fairly well off, but that sounds like you're a little better set than that. Is there anyone you know that you can ask about it?"

"Yeah, maybe," said Harry, sitting down and rubbing his hands through his hair. "But that would mean I'm rich, right? And Ron's been somewhat of a prat already! Sheesh..."

"Well, what do you expect, all he ever does is spend his allowance on Chocolate Frogs and Quidditch magazines, then complains about not having any walking about money. We don't have a lot of money, but we aren't exactly paupers."

"I guess...so back to my original question, where can I get one of those tea sets you mentioned, before we get to go to Hogsmeade?"

"I suppose you can order one by Owl Post. Most stores have catalogs for doing that kind of stuff. I bet there are some up in the dorms. If not the girls in my year, the older girls should have some, Fred and George probably have a couple too, but probably only Zonko's or Gambol and Japes. I'll get them for you tomorrow."

"That would be great. But how do I pay for anything, I mean I have some money, but not a lot on me."

"Well, you just use your vault key and press it to the spot on the order form."

Harry nodded, then blushed slightly before asking, "Umm...can you make sure a couple of the catalogs have clothes in them? I'd really like to get some decent clothes, other than my school robes."

"Oh, Harry," replied Ginny, somewhat embarrassed, too, "if we knew that you didn't like what you were wearing, we would have taken you shopping before the World Cup. Mum thought you dressed that way on purpose...what do they call it grungy or something like that."

"Bloody hell!" hissed Harry, "I did it again!"

"I guess not," said Ginny, smiling nervously.

"Right in one. I HATE dressing like this. But since it's all I've got other than school stuff, I'm stuck with it. Hell, half the time I go commando because I don't have enough pants that fit."

Ginny turned beat read when Harry said that.

"Oops...sorry, I guess you didn't need to know that," said Harry, also turning red. Just then, the mantle clock chimed three.

"I guess we should go to bed," said Ginny, yawning.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "It's been fun. We should do this more often."

Ginny agreed, before running up the stairs to the girls dorms.]

The next day, Harry was the last one out of his dorm, almost missing breakfast. When he got to the common room, Ginny was sitting on the sofa, in front of the fire.

"Hey there, sleepyhead, I've got something for you," she said, holding up a stack of about twenty catalogs. "Let's go down to breakfast and look at these later?"

Harry nodded. Then he asked, "How are you so awake this morning?"

She smiled and answered, "Did you know that Alicia and Angelina have a charmed espresso set in their dorm?"

Harry laughed. "Well that explains how they were able to handle Oliver's morning practices."

Ginny stuffed the catalogs into her school bag and grabbed Harry's arm, dragging him out the portrait. Once in the hall, she linked arms with him and walked that way with him all the way to breakfast. They were still linked when they arrived at the Gryffindor table. Ron was glaring daggers at Harry as he sat down. Ginny reached over and started filling Harry's plate. A large mound of scrambled eggs, six sausages, eight rashers of bacon, a small steak, kippers and several other things.

"What are doing that for?" hissed Ron.

"Harry found out about the first task, last night. And if you weren't walking around with a stick up your arse, you'd know what this is all about. Charlie says if you are going to face a dragon, you'd best be in top shape to do it. Harry's in training now, if you'd care to know. Mind, I'm not saying that dragons are the first task, but Harry's going to need all the help with it he can get. Are you in or are you going to be your normal self, Ron?"

Ron growled and said, under his breath, "I suppose so."

Hermione looked at Harry and Ginny, shrugged and said, "Anything I can help with?"

Ginny, ignoring Ron for the moment, said to Hermione, "Yes, can you teach this lout to do a decent summoning charm?"

Harry swallowed what he was eating and said, "Hey, I'm right here, you know."

Ginny smiled and said, "Yes, but your mouth was full. I know you have better manners than my brother, so I didn't want you to start picking up his bad ones. Oh, and Hermione, do you have a little time this afternoon to help me with a project?"

"That depends on what sort of project, I do have a couple of essays to write."

Ginny turned to Hermione and answered, in a whisper. Harry tried to follow what they were talking about but Ron, after hitting Harry on the shoulder a couple of times to get his attention, started talking to him. After a few minutes of the latest Quidditch scores and other such nonsense, Harry asked Ron if he was still mad. Ron shut up and left the table. Harry shrugged and went back to eating. Ginny had piled about three times as much on his plate as he normally ate, but he found that he was just able to finish it all. By the time he was finished, the conversation between Hermione and Ginny had expanded to include both Lavender and Parvati, the Gryffindor Chasers, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot and Daphne Greengrass (Harry had to look twice at her, just to make sure), her little sister (Harry didn't know her name, only that she was now a Second year student in Ravenclaw) and two girls wearing Beauxbaton's robes, one of which Harry was sure called him 'leetle boy' not all that long ago. Harry noticed some of the looks he was getting from the girls. So he just stood and started to leave the table, when Ginny grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear.

"Be in the unused classroom, across from the Charms room at two. Make sure you are wearing pants."

Harry gulped and quickly made his way from the Great Hall. On his way out, he ran into Cedric, quite literally.

"Hey, Potter, watch where you are going."

"Sorry, Cedric. But I was beginning to feel like prime rib and they were looking for a grill. But do you have a minute?"

"Sure. I wonder what's up. I'm kind of jealous. You've got some of the best looking girls, from two schools eying you like that."

"Umm...yeah and that's supposed to make me feel any better?" Harry glanced around before continuing. "Look, I know that you don't think I cheated my way into this tournament, so here's what I found out. The First Task, it's going to be something against dragons. And not just any dragons, but nesting dragons. And as Ginny Weasley told me, there's probably very few things meaner than nesting dragons."

"Well, yeah...she'd know about that if anyone would. Her brother is a professional dragon handler, after all. Thanks, Potter...er...Harry...and you're right I didn't buy all that shit. I mean if Gred and Forge couldn't break the old man's age line, I don't think you could either. Look, if you need any help or anything, let me know. Hell, if you just want to talk let me know. I could tell you stories about the twin menaces that would make your hair stand on end and that's just from living close to them."

Harry was wondering what to do, until two, when he spotted Viktor Krum heading towards the main entrance, with a broom slung over his shoulder. Running up to him, Harry asked, "You want some company out there?"

"If you tink, you can keep up vith me, I'll humor you. Grab your broom."

"Meet you on the pitch, home side goals, in ten...make that five minutes."

Harry turned and ran to the Gryffindor tower. He knew that even running, he'd be hard pressed to make it to the pitch in five minutes, but he wasn't planning on running the entire way. It only took him three minutes to make it back to his dorm and another minute to make it to the very top of the tower. Once there he opened the door to the upper battlements and hopped on his broom. He kicked the door closed as he flew through it. It took slightly less than a minute to make it to the pitch, at full speed, on his Firebolt.

Viktor raised an eyebrow at Harry and started skyward. He started with a steep climb followed by a couple of quick barrel rolls. Not only was Harry following, but he had moved up and was pacing Viktor, about five yards off to his right. A smile broke out on Viktor's face as he picked up the pace, Harry matching him, move for move. After about an hour of what amounted to very high speed synchronous flying Viktor tried to up the stakes a little by dropping into a very steep dive. Harry stuck with him and when they both pulled up, their toes were scraping the grass of the pitch. Not to be out done, Harry pulled up his knees until they were on the handle of the broom, then he moved his feet under himself and stood, as he did to catch the Snitch in his first match. This time, without having to reach for the elusive gold ball, he was able to make the turn and drop back to a seated position. As he started back, he notice that Viktor had stopped, about halfway down the pitch. He was hovering there, mouth hanging open.

Harry pulled up and stopped when he reached Viktor.

"You are good. I've never seen that move before."

"That was how I caught my first Snitch."

"So you are a Seeker, too. Impressive."

"According to school records, youngest in over a century. I made the team my first year."

"Not even I did that. You must tell me that story some time. But enough of that, let's fly."

They spent the rest of the morning until lunch, doing just that. Viktor had invited Harry to fly with him any time. As they were going in to lunch, Ron spotted them and just turned and stomped off. During lunch, which Viktor ate with Harry, at the Gryffindor table, much to the shock of many Slytherins, Ginny reminded Harry of his afternoon appointment and to also make sure he had his vault key.

"Vhat is that all about? And is she your girlfriend or someting?"

"I'm not sure...and well...I don't know. I do kind of like her, but I've never really thought about her and me. I mean, she's...well...umm..."

Viktor laughed, "Trust me. I know. You tink...hey big Quidditch star...all the girls. Bah, most of them are empty headed. Veelas have more brains than most of them. All they want is fame and money. Ve don't needs girls like that. Vell...maybe for a quick romp but...tell me Harry, that girl with the bushy brown hair, she is always in the library, no?"

"Yeah, Hermione. She's a good friend...and very smart."

"I thought so. She seeing anyone?"

"Umm...no."

"Good...you not tell her about this? You do know that there is a ball that goes on during the tournament. I tink it vill be a Yule Ball."

Harry slammed his head on the table. "Ball...as in dancing. As in why doesn't anyone EVER tell me these bloody things?"

Viktor laughed. "I take it you have a problem?"

"Yeah, like I can't dance."

"You can fly your broom standing and you can't dance?" asked Viktor, incredulously.

"Right in one. Never learned how."

"Ah, vell, since there are many veeks until the ball, that can be fixed, no? Just ask that pretty little red-head to help, I'm sure she vill."

"No...umm...yeah...oh, bloody hell," said Harry, with a resigned sigh, "I guess. Thanks Viktor. You've made my life soooo much easier. Can't we just go fly the rest of the afternoon?"

"You are alright, Harry, no matter vhat that Malfoy says. I tink he is talking about himself instead of you."

As two o'clock approached Harry was getting nervous. He was dreading the meeting that Ginny had arranged. He knew that it was spiraling beyond just looking at a couple of catalogs and filling out some order forms. He was hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as he feared it would become. After lunch, when he returned to the dorm, the Chasers were sitting there, looking at catalogs. A quick glance showed Harry that they were looking in the men's clothing section. He quickly made his way to his room. Thankfully only Neville was there. After putting his broom away, he flopped on his bed.

"Neville, have you ever felt that your life was beyond your control? Like someone else was in charge and you were just watching?"

"Nope." answered Neville, looking up from some Herbology journal. "Gran has always been in charge and it's just easier to go with that."

Harry sighed. "Not much help there Neville." Sitting up, Harry asked, "What are you reading?"

"An article about the cultivation of gillyweed. Fascinating stuff, gillyweed. Do you think anyone would mind if I grew some here in the dorm?"

"Does it stink? bite? do anything really strange?"

"No. It does need to be grown in a saltwater tank, though."

"Maybe you can put some fish in it too?"

"Sounds possible."

"Well, then I don't mind. I'm pretty sure Seamus and Dean would say yes, too. So Ron's going to be the only difficult one. Ask him during dinner and when I'm not around. Don't tell him that I said it would be fine."

"You two still at it?"

"Yeah, I thought he was going to apologize at breakfast, this morning, but he got in a huff and stomped off again."

"I don't know what his problem is. I mean, if his brothers couldn't get their names in it, no offense Harry, but how could you?"

"None taken, Neville. Seriously, why can't more people think like that? How hard is it to figure out, especially since you guys live with me and know what my grades are like. I don't think even Hermione could have come up with a way around it any better than Fred and George. And look where they ended up."

"Exactly. There are days where I think that staying in bed and pulling the covers over my head and not coming out until spring sounds like the best thing to do...and most of them are Halloween."

"Yeah, that day seems to be one of your worst, every year."

Harry glanced at his watch and yelled, "Oh shit! It's almost two..." He jumped off his bed and started looking in his trunk, mumbling, "It was right here on top. I know I put it there this morning." He kept looking for a couple of more minutes, before sitting up and banging his head on the lid. "Shit! I bet Ginny has it!" he said, rubbing his head. Harry started looking around the room when the door opened. Alicia, Angelina and Katie entered the room, stopping just inside the door.

"Sorry, Neville, but Potter is coming with us. He has an appointment that he will not miss."

Neville looked a the girls, nodded and went back to reading his magazine.

"So, Potter, what's it going to be...come willingly or do we stun you and drag your scrawny arse there?" asked Alicia, twirling her wand.

"Gee, thanks Neville. I'll come willingly."

"I'm not getting between them and you, Harry. Being brave doesn't mean being stupid."

"Oooo, goodie," said Katie, grabbing on to Harry's right arm. Angelina grabbed Harry's left arm and they led him from the room. They held Harry's arms all the way to the unused classroom. Harry swallowed dryly when he entered the room. Not only were all the girls that were at lunch there but a couple of others, including a blond Ravenclaw that Ginny was always talking to, between classes. The other one was Demelza.

Harry looked a bit pale and felt like Nick, as he was being led to meet the ax man, or so he thought.

Ginny said, "Don't worry Harry, all the girls here believe that you are telling the truth and they are going to help with your wardrobe. The first thing you need to do, though is get measured."

Harry nodded, mutely, wondering exactly how they were going to do that.

Ginny pointed to a corner, where a blanket had been stretched across. "Go behind there and strip down to your shorts. Then someone will be back to take your measurements." She added, whispering in his ear, "If you don't go willingly, we WILL stun you and then measure you."

Harry just nodded and made his way to the corner. Shrugging as he went behind the blanket, he started to remove his clothes. When he was done, Ginny told him to toss his clothes out. A minute later, the girl from Beauxbatons, that he didn't know, came behind the blanket with a notepad and measuring tape. She told him what to do, in heavily accented English. She wrote down everything on the pad and then left. Harry not knowing what to do, sat on the stool that was behind the blanket. A few minutes later Ginny tossed a pair of trousers behind the blanket and told him to try them on and then step out. He did so without any argument.

"Well, girls," said Ginny when Harry stepped out, "that looks about right. So lets start. Harry go over and sit in that chair."

Harry sat where she pointed, noticing that the chair looked a lot like a barber's chair. Parvati and Lavender approached, one carrying a tray and the other a towel. They threw the towel over Harry's shoulders and fastened it behind his back. Then one grabbed a comb and started to comb his hair. Parvati reached over and took off Harry's glasses while Lavender started to cut his hair. After a few minutes, the scissors stopped and the girls started almost arguing with each other. They stopped after coming to a conclusion that the best thing was to start over. So Harry felt something cool and wet get dumped on his head. A few minutes later, the scissors started again. This time Ginny came over and said that what they did wasn't quite right and they should start again. So the potion was applied once more and the scissors started again. This was repeated several times, with one or more of the girls initially vetoing the results. Finally, Ginny came over, poured about three times the amount of potion on Harry's head and told Parvati to make it a couple of inches longer than shoulder length and then pull it back into a ponytail. After a few snips of the scissors, a little off the top and then someone pulling his hair back, Lavender told Harry to stand up. She took off the towel, shook it out and then Katie handed him his glasses and a shirt. He put both on and was led to a mirror. He was shocked by what he saw in the mirror. His hair, while being much longer than he ever had worn before, was almost behaving. His fringe, while not quite as long as he normally wore it still managed to subdue his scar. He kind of liked the look. Then he noticed the shirt actually fit, without having to roll the sleeves or anything. One of the older girls handed him a large sack. He looked in it and saw all the hair that had been cut off.

"What's this for?" he asked.

Ginny replied, as Hermione mumbled something about all boys being thick, "It's your hair. Usually it either gets burnt or banished by the person it came from."

It was almost as if a light went on in Harry's head. "Right," he said, nodding. "Well, where...?"

Ginny pointed to a fireplace in the far wall of the room.

Harry took the sack and with a quick flick of his wand, the sack was reduced to a pile of ashes.

"Now, the girls have picked out a wide selection of clothing. You don't need to order all of it, but we do think that you should get at least half of it." said Ginny, leading him back to the rest of the girls. They started showing him the various things they picked out, mostly things that resembled or were Muggle styles. There were several trousers, jeans and even some shorts with casual and dress shirts. There was a selection of robes, from casual to very formal. They included everything, from undergarments (both boxers and briefs), socks and four pair of shoes, two casual, one dress and one pair of boots. There were no outlandish colors or eye searing patterns, darker colors, greys, blacks, greens and blues were the predominant colors, with some muted reds and browns thrown in. The wildest items were a couple of tee shirts, from a catalog that carried both Quidditch league and various band shirts, at least one of them wasn't Chuddley, thought Harry. After he finished looking through all of the orders, he nodded.

"Thanks. But there's a couple of things I don't really like and a few more that I'd like to get."

So they all sat down with him and made the changes. Once they were finished Harry stamped the forms with his key. He noticed that Hedwig was sitting patiently on a desk, while Hermione tied the forms to her.

Glaring at his owl, Harry said, "You too, Hedwig?"

Hedwig gave a hoot before flying from the room. As soon as she left, another owl, carrying a small sack flew into the room. One of the girls grabbed the sack and dumped the contents on a desk. They expanded as they came out of the sack. Harry noticed a pair of trousers, a dark green shirt, socks, a belt and a pair of shoes. There was also a metal disk with a leather thong attached to it, that looked like some sort of Celtic knot work. Ginny grabbed the clothes and handed them to Harry telling him to go change. When he came out, Lavender took the metal disk and tied his hair back with it. The girls made him walk around the room, showing off his clothing. He finally started to relax, when none of the girls made any comments or looked like they were going to start teasing him. By the time he was finished, several more owls started to fly into the room bearing the same kind of sacks. Harry looked at the growing pile and groaned.

After a couple more hours of trying on clothes and most of them, at least from the Hogsmeade shops, having been declared keepers, most of the girls left, leaving Harry, Ginny, Hermione and the Chasers.

Ginny handed Harry his map and said, "Sorry about that, but this was too good to pass up."

"Umm...yeah, I guess I finally did start having fun, but come on, clueless guy here, you can't do this kind of thing regularly. Us guys...we break if that happens more than once every twenty years or so."

Angelina was the first to stop laughing. "Harry, what happened to the poor, sweet, clueless boy we all adored?"

"Umm...blame it on her," Harry said, pointing to Ginny. "Now, I have one other problem I need help with. I found out, that one of the traditional things during the tournament, is a ball. Viktor said that as a champion I would be required to attend and well, that's a problem."

"Are you asking one of us to be your date?"

"Errr...no, not yet, at least. I think I should wait until it's officially announced, don't you?"

The girls nodded.

"So what's the problem Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry looked down at the floor and mumbled, "I can't dance."

"What was that Harry?" one of the girls asked.

"I can't dance," repeated Harry.

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about, Harry," said Hermione. "Since it's not anytime soon, there's plenty of time for lessons."

"Yeah, Viktor said it will probably be a Yule ball."

"See, that's a month away," said Ginny. Turning to the others, she added. "Think we can do it, or do we need to bring in the rest?"

"At least Susan, Celeste and Fleur."

Harry asked, "Who is Celeste?"

"The one who measured you, Harry. Her mother is a rather well known French robe designer." said Alicia.

Harry sighed and said, "I suppose that's alright but I don't want everyone involved, please?"

Ginny nodded. "Let's get all this back to your room and then get some dinner." she added, grabbing a pile of clothes as she stood up. Hermione and the Chasers grabbed some clothes, too leaving a rather small pile for Harry to grab.

"This is about two thirds of the stuff ordered. The rest will probably be here tomorrow or Tuesday." added Hermione as they left.

"Umm...how much did all this cost and what exactly did I order?"

"Well, everything we showed you, the extras you added and about five more of those hair bands. All total, about 200 Galleons." said Ginny, before adding, "But that's only a good start. Most of this stuff is charmed, but you will still out grow it in about three years or so. Now that you know what to do, though I think we can trust you to keep up with it? If not, I may have to call for a repeat session."

"No...I think I've got it now. But only 200 Galleons for all this?"

"But Harry, that's like 7,000 Pounds." *

"Oh...that's what thirty-five to one?"

"Yes," said Hermione.

"I know the Dursleys spend that much on Dudley every year. Did you ever notice some of the labels on that crap I wore? Levis and such aren't cheap. It's just that by the time i got them, they were beyond salvaging. And this is brand new, everything charmed to fit for a couple of years?" Ginny nodded. "So I don't think it was too bad."

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess not," answered Hermione.

* Yes, the 'official' exchange rate is 5 Pounds equals 1 Galleon, but that is patently ridiculous. Working out the rate, based on real exchange rates for the Dollar and Pound, during the 1990s and using the cost of the newspaper to base it on, the rate becomes a somewhat more realistic 35 Pounds to the Galleon...still not quite the exchange rate for gold, if the Galleon is supposed to be a one ounce coin, of pure gold. It most likely isn't, though.

That gives the price of some published items, like the Omniocculars, a value of several hundred Pounds/Dollars...on par with a cheap/mid-range video camera in the mid 1990s, which, is pretty much what they are, right?

This also greatly increases the value of the Knut and Sickle...making the candy on the Hogwarts Express about the same cost as extra food on an airplane. It also makes a Hit Wizard earn almost 25,000 Pounds per month, but supposedly your average 'Red Shirt' ensign on the U.S.S Enterprise (NCC-1701...pick your letter) has a longer life expectancy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Monday, not only was Harry deluged with owls, during breakfast, but Hermione told him to meet her in the same classroom, as yesterday. After relieving the owls of their packages, Harry realized that there were way too many to take to his room on his own, so he looked for someone to help him. Fortunately, Alicia and Angelina were nearby and did not have a class immediately after breakfast, so they each grabbed a few of the charmed sacks. Neville looked at Harry, oddly as he and the girls left the hall. Once in the dorm, the girls even helped Harry unpack and put all the items away. There were several things that Harry didn't remember seeing on the order form, mainly a small box loaded with bottles and the tea set.

The tea set was a classic style tea pot, in a deep green with all the matching accessories and a selection of half a dozen tins of tea. The set was not frilly and did not look out of place in an all male environment. As they were finishing up, Neville, Seamus and Ron entered the room. Ron glared at Harry and the girls.

"Potter, what's all this?" asked Seamus, pointing at the tea set and the pile of sacks.

"I mentioned that I needed a few things and well," Alicia and Angelina snorted, "some of the girls got together, yesterday, and decided what I needed and made me order it all."

The girls quietly left before anyone could say anything else.

"So that's what all that was about?" Neville queried.

"Sorry about that, but yeah."

"So what's with the hair?"

"Umm...Lavender and Parvati came up with that. I kind of like it. Makes it behave a bit better."

Seamus chuckled and said, "Only you mate, would think that unruly mop could be tamed by being longer, but hey, if it works. I bet all the girls go crazy over it."

Harry muttered, "Yeah, there is that."

Ron almost said something, but turned and left the room.

Neville sighed, "If he doesn't get over it soon, I may put some stink sap in his bed."

"So, what are you up to today. Tomorrow is the big day." said Seamus, grabbing his books.

"I guess I'm off to class. I'm supposed to meet Hermione later to go over some stuff for tomorrow, but that's not until this afternoon. Neville, what are we doing in Herbology today?"

"Flutterby bushes, I think, why? Thinking of skiving?"

"No, that sounds easy enough, I'll be there." said Harry grabbing his new book bag and throwing in the items he needed. "I wonder what Hagrid will be doing?"

Neville and Seamus shrugged.

"Knowing Hagrid," muttered Dean, entering the room, "something dangerous. It wouldn't surprise me at all, if he had a dragon or two stashed somewhere."

Harry paled at the the thought, remembering, exactly, what he had to face the next day. "He wouldn't...", he said, barely whispering.

Classes that day went as expected, almost. Hagrid, surprisingly didn't have a live dragon for the class, but he did cover dragons...in great detail. He covered their strengths, which were many, not the least of which was their fiery breath and their weaknesses, which were very few. The one weak spot on most dragons, Harry found out, was their eyes and a certain lack of resistance to a tickling charm, when sleeping.

Harry moved through the rest of the day, somewhat in a daze, especially whenever he spotted one of the 'gaggle' as he started thinking of the group of girls. Several of them, particularly his Gryffindor Quidditch teammates, would do things like give him a wink or a whistle as he walked down the hall. He could barely concentrate on his classes-because most of the girls would be whispering, and the few words he caught all seemed to indicate the whispers were about him. It came to a head, when during dinner, he got pinched on the bum, three times while walking to the Gryffindor table.

He sank into his seat and put his head on the table. "Ron, take your wand out and cast the worst curse you know...right at my head. It won't be any worse than the rest of my day has been."

"I'm so sorry, Harry," said Ginny, sadly, as she sat down next to him.

"What did you do?" asked Ron, with an empty mouth, for once. "And I thought we weren't talking, Harry?"

Harry answered before Ginny did, "Well, it seems like you've wanted to curse me for a month, so I thought giving you a free shot would about finish out a truly rotten day."

"Ohhh..."

Then Ginny replied, before Ron could say anything else, "I asked for a little help getting Harry some new clothes and well...I guess it got a little out of hand."

"Only a little?" snorted Harry.

"Ummm...yeah, well...maybe more like a lot?" asked Ginny. Harry looked at her and noticed that she looked more than slightly embarrassed when answering. She continued, "But they all promised to..."

"I don't blame you, Ginny. Angelina, Katie and Alicia...those three...I understand. But Lavender and the rest..."

"I probably shouldn't have asked them, but..."

She was interrupted by Hermione sitting down. "Harry, I'm so sorry."

She looked at Ginny. Ginny looked at Hermione. The both started laughing.

Harry thumped his forehead into the table.

"So, Harry, are you ready to practice?" asked Hermione, recovering from her laughing fit.

Harry looked at her, then at Ginny and then back at Hermione, before answering, "I guess so."

"Good then let me get something to eat and we can go. Professor Flitwick is letting use the classroom across from his. He said we can have from after dinner until we are finished."

"Right, I guess we'll be there a while then?"

"Well, I do have a list of spells here that should be helpful. You should try all of them, at least once."

Harry pushed his half empty plate away and said, "I'm heading there now, I don't have much of an appetite, tonight." He stood and left the Great Hall.

Harry found the room, which, much to his relief was completely empty. Sighing, he sat on one of the chairs, off to one side of the room. He pulled a book out of his bag and started reading. A few minutes later, he was interrupted by Hermione and Ginny entering the room.

"So, what do you have, Hermione?"

"Well, you are only supposed to take your wand with you, so I thought we would try the Summoning Charm, first. That way you could summon anything you might need."

"That's a good idea, but do you think it would work to summon a Nomex suit?"

"Umm, Harry, gnomes don't wear suits, and what good would one of them do you, anyway?" asked Ginny.

Hermione stifled a laugh and explained, "Nomex is a fire proof cloth that is used to make the protective clothing fire brigades use. And, no I don't think it will work over that great a distance, since the nearest one is at least ten miles away."

"Well, do you think I'll be able to use it to get whatever it is we are supposed to get?"

"I would think not, because that would be too easy. They'll probably have some sort of protective charm put up to prevent that."

"Right, so what would I do with it?"

"How about summoning your broom?" asked Ginny. "Didn't you mention that someone said you should go with your strengths?"

"Yeah, I was told that. I guess I could, but how is being able to fly going..." Harry paused, a very thoughtful look enveloping his face. "That just might work. Alright then, how does that spell go, Hermione?"

Hermione huffed, annoyed, "We covered it in class a couple of weeks ago, Harry!"

"Oh, right, I must have forgotten. I have had a lot on my mind lately," said Harry.

"Right, well, you've got your Charms text, read over that section and then we'll start practicing in a little while."

Ginny, sat there watching both of them, thinking how much they acted like Ron and herself, when Hermione pulled on her sleeve and dragged her over to the far corner of the room.

"So, Ginny, what was yesterday really all about?"

Ginny started to explain, but Harry slammed his book closed, muttering something about being denser than a brick and having a memory like a Swiss cheese.

Hermione glanced over at Harry, then said to Ginny, "You will tell me."

Ginny nodded, "Later, after we're done here. You'd better do something with Harry before he ends up like a tea kettle left to boil too long."

Hermione nodded, looking at Harry. She sighed as she walked over toward him, "Harry, breathe. Ginny said you are starting to look like a tea kettle left to boil too long and I'm beginning to think she's right."

"Gee, thanks, you two," muttered Harry. "What's wrong with me? I can't remember something we did in class a few days ago and I start flying off the handle at nothing?"

Ginny started to laugh, but quickly choked it back, turning it into a cough. "Nothing, you're a boy..."

"What's that got to do with anything?" shouted Harry, rather sharply.

"Everything. Remember, five brothers all older than you and one your age, they've all been this way. Mum said something, one time, about how it's the confusion caused by your mind overriding your body's desire to choke some deserving git and how that it would get better the older you are. Girls on the other hand, tend to get all weepy and blubber about everything."

Hermione snickered and added, "Some would call it testosterone poisoning..."

Harry spluttered, lifted a finger and pointed it at them. He opened his mouth to say something, but saw the looks on their faces and just shut his mouth and growled. He grabbed his wand and went back to practicing, ignoring the two, now furiously giggling girls.

It was finally time for the first task. Harry was in a tent, with the other three champions, when Ludo Bagman, one of the Ministry of Magic officials in charge of the Tournament, entered.

"I hope you are all prepared for today's task," said Ludo, shaking a bag that he was holding. "I suppose that it is alright to tell you now what you will be facing. This task will pit you against a dragon, with nothing but your wits and your wand. There are four different dragons out there and you will draw from this bag to determine which you will face. Ladies first."

He held the bag out to Fleur and she placed her hand in and drew out a small, highly detailed model of a Welsh Green, with tag stamped with the number two around its neck. Then he passed the bag to Viktor, who drew out a Chinese Fireball, wearing a number 3. Cedric was next and he drew a Swedish Short Snout, with a number one. Harry gulped as the bag was passed to him. He drew the last dragon, the Hungarian Horntail. The dragon that his research over the past few days had said, had the reputation for being the meanest, toughest and downright nastiest of the lot.

"Right then, you all have your dragon. The number it is wearing is the order you will be called in. That means, Mr. Diggory, you will be first and Harry, you, of course, will be last. We will begin in a few minutes," said Bagman, as he turned to leave the tent. Pausing, he looked at Harry and looked as if he were going to say something, but the other three champions quickly closed in around Harry.

"Harry, your luck really sucks," said Cedric.

Before Harry could reply, Fleur spoke, in heavily accented English, "I'm sorry. I should not have insulted you so badly. I suppose what that nasty man said is true, someone may be out to kill you."

Harry nodded and thanked her, when Viktor clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. You are small and wiry, it may think you are too much trouble to bother eating."

"Yeah, right."

They all laughed, a bit nervously.

Harry added, "Someone once told me...Meddle not, in the affairs of dragons; for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

This brought on more laughter, not of the nervous variety. Before they stopped, Cedric was called from the tent and the remaining three instantly fell silent. Fleur started pacing, nervously.

"Umm...Fleur?"

"Oui," she replied, pausing.

"Thanks, for the other day."

"It was nothing. I'm sorry for what I said that night. I didn't realize."

"That's alright. I mean...I know I shouldn't be here, but I really didn't put my name in."

"I believe you," said the gruff voice of Krum. "I could tell, just by vatching you, ven you showed up in that room. You vere as pale as a ghost. Idiots, the lot of them."

"I agree," said Fleur. "Les imbéciles, especially the ones from your Ministry."

At that, the next name was called and few minutes later, the next, until Harry was alone. He wasn't quite sure if the plan that they had come up with was going to work, but, it was the only thing he had, so he started pacing, until his name was called.

He entered the arena and stopped dead, in his tracks. The dragon was pacing, around the nest and what was most astonishing was that it was speaking.

_"Kill, rend, tear. Food, little timid two-legged food." _

Looking at the dragon, Harry said, _"No, not food. I come for the egg."_

At this the dragon bellowed and ran at him, until it was brought up short, by its chain. The crowd gasped and there were a few scattered boos thrown in, too. Harry backed up, as fast as he could, which just made the jeering increase, until the dragon reared up and sent a bright gout of flame in Harry's direction.

_"Thief!" _bellowed the dragon. _"Burn!" _

The roar was followed by a second gout of flame. Harry ducked that one and whipped out his wand, performing the summoning charm to call his broom, like planned.

Bagman had hardly said a word, until Harry's broom appeared and he mounted it, taking to the air. Then, he couldn't say enough about Harry's flying skills.

After several minutes of flying around the dragon, dodging flame and tail spikes, claws and teeth, Harry swooped down until he was barely a foot above the ground, flying as fast as the Firebolt would go. Sweeping under a vicious swipe of the tail and between the dragon's legs, Harry leaned over and plucked the golden egg from among the others. Once clear of the dragon, he pulled into a very steep climb, nearly vertical. After climbing to a couple of hundred feet, he levelled off and flew to the judge's stand, holding the egg in one hand while he did a barrel roll and then a steep dive, before landing.

« So, Harry, ummm... » stammered Ron. "I guess someone IS really out to get you."

"No shite, Ron, what ever gave you that idea?" said Harry, slightly more than irritated. "Me nearly becoming a flaming appetizer for a rather pissed off dragon? Or was it the fact that even with all of that AND not getting a scratch on me, I still got total shite for a score?"

"Ummm..."

"Ron, just forget it. It's not worth it. Yeah you bollocksed things up, but I don't have the time or the strength to deal with this. If you want to make up for being a total arse...help me. Like your sister is. Can you do that?"

"I can do that," said Ron, looking down and listlessly kicking the ground.

Harry slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Good, otherwise I'd have to kick your arse, when I had time."

"You and what army?" replied Ron, looking up with a grin.

"I don't need no stinking army, I've got your sister."

Ron gulped, "Ohh...right. But what do you mean 'I've got your sister'?"

"Well, she volunteered to kick your arse, weeks ago, but I told her not to. Something Hermione said about giving you a chance to pull your head out and grow up."

"Hermione said THAT?"

"Not quite those words, but yeah."

"I'm screwed. At least Fred and George didn't..."

Harry was laughing.

"They did?" asked Ron, starting to look about as pale as a ghost, with a slight green tint.

"They were waiting until after the Task. If you hadn't pulled your head out, by tonight, I think they were going to..."

"Right, I get the picture. So we're good now and you can tell them?"

"Yeah," said Harry, smiling. "Enough of this emotional crap, somebody said there was a party."

When Harry and Ron entered the common room, Harry was greeted like a conquering hero. Someone, Harry suspected Fred, had even thrust a circlet of laurel leaves upon his head. Everyone was having a good time, until a Fifth year came over and started telling Harry how he should have done things differently and how, if he had sneaked his name into the Goblet he would have been able to not only get the egg without a scratch, but he would have been able to subdue the dragon, give it a manicure and tie a pretty pink bow around its neck.

Harry, after a couple of minutes of listening to him, was on the verge of pounding the loud, brash and very definitely obnoxious boy, when Katie and the other two Chasers showed up.

"Put a sock in it, Cormac," said Katie.

"Oh, being rescued by girls, Potter, how manly."

Harry's fist flew, a fast right, to Cormac's jaw, dropping him to the floor. A pin dropped on to a pillow would have made more noise after that.

"McLaggen, I AM NOT being rescued by anyone, you sodding moron. She told you to shut your fat trap, because, she like everyone else within half a mile of here, is sick of listening to your shite. GOT IT!", said Harry, with the last part being yelled into Cormac's face, with Harry's nose nearly touching his. Harry spun on his heel, grabbed his egg and stormed from the common room. Once in the Hall, Harry headed down to the classroom he had used for practice. Almost there, he noticed the sound of music, coming from another room, a few doors further down the hall. He made his way down the hall and peered into the room.

"Hey, Harry," shouted Cedric. "We were just talking about you. That was some spectacular flying you did today."

"How did you see it, I thought Pomfrey was putting you back together?"

"She was, but Viktor here," said Cedric. Harry noticed, now, that Viktor and Fleur were also in the room, along with several others, some Hufflepuffs, Cho Chang, a couple of Durmstrang students and two other girls, one of which was the one who had been with Fleur 'that day'. The other looked younger than eleven, though. "had the brilliant idea to get some of his mates to catch the whole thing on Omnis. We've spent the last hour or so watching them. Did you know that you could even set them up to project what they caught onto a wall?"

"Umm...no. But I'd love to see it all."

"I vill give you a set, we've all vatched them."

"Thanks."

The little girl said something in French and giggled. Fleur rolled her eyes and replied.

Harry grumbled, "It's bad enough when they do it in English, at least I have some chance of understanding, but French?"

Cho laughed, "Don't worry about it, Harry."

"Oh, I'm not, too much. I just wish I could have taken French or something in primary, you know."

Cho looked at Harry and said, "You know what books on tape are?"

"Yeah," he said, looking at her, with a puzzled expression. "But I didn't think tape players would work in the castle."

"They don't, but one of the more popular things in Ravenclaw are the magical equivalent, especially for languages. They aren't cheap, but you can learn almost any language in a couple of days."

"Really?"

"Da," said Viktor. "My father uses them all the time. He's learned about a hundred languages that vay. Me, I can't...they give me terrible headaches."

"Ma mère, she does not allow them," added Fleur.

"Speaking of learning things, have any of you opened your eggs yet?" asked Harry.

"Oui, it was tres horrible."

"Sounded like somebody was feeding Filch's cat to one of Hagrid's pets, if you ask me," said one of the Hufflepuffs that Harry didn't know.

"What brings you here, anyway," asked another one, who Harry thought was one of their Beaters. "I thought Fred and George were throwing you a party up in your common room."

"They were and it was great until McLaggen opened his gob."

All the Hogwarts students laughed.

"So McBraggin' ruined it for you?" asked the first Hufflepuff, who Harry now knew was also a Beater.

Harry was about to say something, when the door opened, again and several Gryffindors walked in, mostly the rest of the Quidditch team, along with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The last thing that had been decided, while most of the Champions were sober enough to care, had been that all of them would meet again on Saturday, Harry being the youngest and the only one not of age, of the Champions, had restricted himself to Butterbeer, after the first shot of Firewhiskey. Ron and his brothers, had much more. The only other totally sober ones were Hermione, who had only a small glass of mead, Ginny, who like Harry had only Butterbeer and the young girl, Gabrielle, who they found out was Fleur's little sister, who had been allowed a small glass of well watered wine. After that, the party degenerated into a fest of dirty jokes, risque games and general teenaged mayhem, before breaking up in the early pre-dawn hours of the morning.

Saturday dawned, with Harry making his way to breakfast. Fortunately, after a couple of days, the castle had returned to normal as opposed the frenzied excitement that ran rampant the days immediately following the Task.

"What do you vant to do today," asked Viktor, meeting Harry outside the doors to the Great Hall.

"Not sure. You?"

"Vell, I usually spend a couple of hours flying. Vant to join me?"

"Sounds great. But what about the other two."

"They can come, too. But I tink they vill have a hard time keeping up," laughed Viktor.

Several hours later, both young men were about to enter the Great Hall, for lunch when a group of giggling girls passed by, stopping near the doors to ogle the two Champions.

"Umm..." said Harry, looking at the girls who now seemed to resemble a pack of wolves staring at an unprotected flock of sheep.

"Da," gulped Viktor, running a finger under the collar of his robes.

"What's up?" asked Cedric. Cho was holding his hand, glaring menacingly at the ever growing gaggle of girls.

Fleur approached the other three, a bunch of boys trailing after her, like a bunch of lost puppies. She could be heard muttering, softly, in rapid French, both Celeste and Gabrielle laughing madly at what she was saying. Until, after the start of a louder and more vicious torrent of muttering, Celeste plastered her hands over the younger girl's ears.

Mysteriously, a hush fell on the Entrance Hall and the girls, first, followed by the drooling gaggle of boys started to move away and some semblance of normality began to return. Harry understood why when he spotted Professor Snape topping the last step from the dungeon corridor.

"Let's get out of here," said a voice at Harry's elbow.

He glanced over and spotted a bushy brown head of hair and a red one, both tugging at his arm.

"Good idea, Hermyowniny...Hermio...Herm..." struggled Viktor.

"Let's head to the classroom next to Flitwick's," suggested Cedric.

"Good idea," said Hermione.

A few minutes later, all four Champions and their friends were in the room.

"This place isn't a very good lounge, even if it was a good place to practice spells," said Ginny. "Maybe we should find somewhere else? Harry, do you know of anywhere?"

"Umm, no. Why should I?"

"Well," she started, "I thought that maybe, you know?"

"Oh...no."

"Vell, there is no place on our ship," said Viktor, who was looking around the room. "Vat happened to all the furniture from the party?"

Cho answered, "The elves probably put it back in storage. I had only asked Professor Flitwick for the use of the room for that night."

"That's rather unfair to the elves..."

"Hush, Hermione, not now," hissed Harry.

"Zis will never do," said Fleur, tapping her wand on her chin, haughtily.

Harry looked at all of them and rolled his eyes, before going over and grabbing one of the desks, along the far wall of the room. He flicked his wand at it, a couple of times and ended up with a large, rather lumpy beanbag. He flopped down on it and said, "We're wizards, right?"

Hermione came over and grabbed another desk and deftly transformed it in a large squashy, smooth bean bag, which she tossed next to Harry's.

Sitting down, she asked, "Harry when did you learn to make a beanbag?"

"Umm," he whispered, "I was really trying to make a couch."

"Budge over, Harry," said Ginny, before jumping on to Harry's bean bag. "We haven't covered anything like this yet,"

After a few more minutes, most of the desks were now various squishy chairs, beanbags and couches.

Harry's stomach rumbled loudly, suddenly reminding him that they were all skipping lunch.

"I suppose we all need to head back to the Great Hall," said Hermione, standing, "It's not like we can call for take-out or anything."

Ginny perked up, "But, we can do almost as well, right Harry?"

"Oh, yeah."

Harry and Ginny stood.

"We'll be back in a few," said Ginny, dragging Harry from the room.

When Harry and Ginny returned to the room, a large table had appeared. One end held plates, glasses and cutlery. In the middle were several platters with various cheeses, olives, pickles, kippers and the like. There was a large basket with many kinds of bread. That was next to a several flattened salamis, a sliced ham, a thinly slice beef joint. The far end was loaded with various beverages, including several buckets of ice, containing bottles of wine. There was even a platter of snails, steaming in what looked to be a garlic and butter suace.

"Wow," said Harry, "I never expected something like this."

Ginny giggled. "Just be glad that you told them it was just a little something for lunch."

"Good show," said Cedric, "Where...never mind, knowing your brothers they probably found out about the kitchens their second day here." Then looking at Harry, he added. "Try the mustard. It will put hair on your chest."

Gabrielle giggled at that.

"Not to be rude or anything, but why is your little sister here?" asked Cho, once everyone had loaded a plate.

Fleur looked at the pretty Asian girl, before answering, "Mon père, is a diplomat for the French Ministry and is on assignment."

She then leaned over and whispered directly to Cho, "But, you did mean to be rude."

Cho's eye's grew large with shock and then she glared angrily a Fleur.

Viktor and Harry were still standing by the buffet table, with Viktor eying the flat looking salami. "I vonder vere the elves found this," he said spearing several slices with a knife. "It is very good, try some."

Shrugging, Harry looked at his plate and then added some. "I had fun this morning."

"You fly vell. Vat is this I hear about you being the youngest Seeker in over a hundred years?"

Harry launched into the story of his first flying class and the events that led to him being placed on the house team. The rest of the people in the room gathered and added embellishments to Harry's story, continuing it beyond just getting on the team to include a rundown of all the matches that Harry had flown in, to date, with both Cedric and Cho giving their opinions of Harry's abilities. Cedric even apologized again for what he called the unfair advantage he had when the Dementors showed up.

The group had settled on to the beanbags, Cho and Cedric taking one, Fleur and Celeste another. Viktor was on a third, with Hermione sitting on a corner of it, leaving Harry, Ginny and Gabrielle, the youngest three in the room on a fourth one.

"And then, the next thing we knew, Harry was standing on his broom, which was flying about a foot off the ground. He was reaching out for the Snitch and suddenly the broom tips dumping him off. He stands up, looking like he's going to sick up or something and pulls the Snitch out of his mouth!" said Cho, nearly rolling in laughter.

Viktor just shook his head and Gabrielle was laughing harder than Cho.

As the afternoon progressed, so did the stories. Viktor told of his first match, were he ended up being so nervous that when he beat the opposing Seeker to the Snitch, instead of catching it, he threw up all over it and the other players who were near by. Cho, with a great deal of blushing admitted to peeing herself her first match when the Slytherin Seeker had nearly turfed her. Cedric told how during his first match, he got himself stuck in the middle ring. He had been chasing the Snitch, without paying too much attention to where he was, and flew right into the ring, with his broom continuing on, and he being folded over the ring itself. Fleur, who wasn't on a school team denied having any Quidditch stories, but had to threaten Gabrielle to keep her quiet.

The afternoon drew to a close when Fleur said that Madam Maxime had announced the fact that there would be a formal ball, on Christmas, and that it was required that the Champions not only attend, with a date, but were to open the Ball.

"Great," mumbled Harry.

Everyone stared at him.

"I...umm...I..." he stuttered.

"Spit it out," said Cedric, laughing.

Gabrielle giggled and said, "He can't dance!"

Harry glared at the girl and said, "She's right."

All the girls looked at him, with an almost predatory look in their eyes.

Viktor swallowed hard and clapped Harry on the shoulder, "Good luck."

Cedric nodded, then whispered to Harry, "I think they'll help with that problem."

Harry looked at the now nodding girls. Then directly at Ginny and Hermione. "Nothing like last time, okay?"

They looked at each other, nodded and burst into a fit of giggles.

"The tomorrow, we meet here and start, no?" asked Fleur.

"All of us?" asked Cedric.

"But of course," answered Celeste. "Those of us who know how to dance probably all know different ones. And since we," she indicated Fleur and herself, "don't know any English dances you will have to teach us, no?"

"I guess that's fair," answered Cedric. "Ginny, you remember some of those reels and others from home?"

She nodded. "Are we going to teach those?"

"Yeah, I can't guess who will be playing for it, but since we are the host school it will probably be some British band, right?"

"I guess so. Can we bring anyone else?"

"No...no...just us, okay?" asked Harry, nervously.

Viktor laughed, "Da, just us."

Gabrielle giggled and clapped loudly.

"Fine, tomorrow after lunch? Here?" everyone agreed.

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Harry, slamming the door to the dorm room closed.

"What this time?" asked Neville.

"There's going to be a bloody ball, on Christmas Eve and I've got to go."

"Lucky you, mate," said Ron, smirking madly.

"Yeah, but that's not the half of it. I've got to have a date and we, the Champions that is, are opening the dance!"

"Blimey, you've got shite for luck," added Seamus.

"And I don't have any clue how to dance!" yelled Harry, dropping on to his bed. "So tomorrow I start lessons! With..."

"My sister? Again? And her whole gaggle of helpers?"

Sitting up Harry said, "Mostly...sort of...it's just going to be the Champions. You know Fleur, that girl she hangs out with all the time, Celeste, Cho, Ginny, Hermione and get this, Fleur's little sister!"

"You're doomed, mate. Bloody well doomed," said Dean.

The next day, Harry had a pretty normal breakfast, but afterward, his day began to go downhill. The first problem came in the form of a very giggly eight year old girl. It seemed that she had decided that Harry was her brother and proceeded to act accordingly. Which meant that every time he tried to leave the Gryffindor common room, because she seemed to have set up camp outside the painting, he had her tagging along. This continued until, with Gabrielle following, Harry entered the Great Hall for lunch. Now lunch on weekend afternoons was a very informal affair. It was a time that many students sat with friends or relatives from other houses. Since the other two schools had come for the Tournament, the long house tables were replaced with round ones that sat ten. So, when Harry, Gabrielle and Hermione, who spoke passable French and had been chatting with Gabrielle all the way from the tower, entered they were quickly dragged over to the table where Fleur, Cho and Ginny were seated. Viktor and Cedric followed closely behind Harry.

"How was your morning, Harry?" asked Ginny, picking up an olive from her plate.

Gabrielle pouted and ran off in a torrent of French, before Harry could answer the question. Celeste brought her back to the table, glaring at Harry. Harry groaned and dropped his head on the table, banging it a couple of times.

"That 'good', mate?" asked Cedric, laughing.

Hermione, Celeste and Fleur were in a conversation, with the now nearly sobbing girl. Harry glanced at her, and to his amazement, saw she wasn't really crying and when she saw him looking at her, she stuck out her tongue at him.

Ginny and Cho were nearly falling out of their seats, laughing. Viktor and Cedric looked at each other, shrugged, filled their plates and began eating.

"I wouldn't want to be you, mate," said Cedric, after downing a sandwich. "If it weren't for what we are supposed to do this afternoon, I'd say head for the hills."

"Da," agreed Viktor. "But, if you do that, den dey vill all be out for your blood."

Harry looked at them and started to ask a question, but Cedric said, "In this case, the best thing to do is eat up."

Celeste walked around the table, looked at Harry and said, with more than a little venom, "Fils!" She then turned and headed back to the table she had been sitting at.

Then Gabrielle, after making a show of wiping away her tears, walked over to Harry and asked him to stand. Once he was standing, she kicked him in the shin and said, "Cochon!" before pushing him in the chest, forcing him back into his seat. Then, she pulled up a chair and sat next to him, asking him to pass the olives.

The tables near where Harry was sitting erupted in laughter, which quickly spread throughout the rest of the Great Hall.

Harry felt his face burn red and wanted to shrink, to about the size of a mouse, and hide under the table.

He lingered eating his lunch. The girls left the table while he was still poking around at his sandwich.

"So, having second thoughts about this?" asked Cedric.

"No, not really. More like feeling like a complete prat. I'm rubbish with girls in general and she was being such a pest."

"No little sister?" asked Viktor.

"No, my parents died when I was little and I live with my Aunt. My cousin, Dudley is about a month and a half older than me."

"Vell..."

"Yeah..." added Harry. "She wasn't even crying!"

Cedric and Viktor laughed.

"She is much like my little sister," said Viktor, suddenly sullen looking. "I hafn't seen her in almost a year. But she acted just the same. So, as a big brother, be nice. All she wanted was someone to notice her and maybe spend a little time with her. No, you probably won't haf to play dollies with her or anything."

"Now if she was six, maybe," added Cedric. "That's how old my little cousin is and yes, I've had to suck it up and play dollies and have tea parties with her a time or two."

"But...I don't even know her...or her sister, really."

Cedric thought for a minute or so. "Doesn't matter. Looks like she decided that you are her 'brother', so you're stuck with it." The he smiled. "Think of it this way. She already likes you, so maybe you can ask Fleur to be your date to the Ball. Could be easier with already having the little sister's approval, you know."

Harry turned to look Cedric in the eye, about to say something when Hermione came back to the table.

"We're waiting for you three. Cho said, and I quote, 'Get your arses up here in five minutes, or we turn Gabrielle loose on the lot of you.' I think she was serious." She then turned and walked out the doors, humming a vaguely familiar, to Harry, tune.

"Vell, I guess ve must be going, then. Da?"

"Yeah," added Harry, half-heartedly.

"Glad you could finally make it," said Cho, coldly, as the three males walked into the room. "Let's get started."

Hermione said, "Since we are in Scotland, we decided we would start with the four basic Scottish country dances, the waltz, the reel, the jig and the strathspey. The reel and the waltz are probably the easiest two to learn."

"Those who already know them, choose a partner," added Celeste.

Harry noted that there were two girls for each boy in the room. He also noticed that, after everyone else had partnered up, he was left with Gabrielle as a partner. Ginny and Celeste were partnered, along with Cedric and Cho. Fleur had no partner, but was standing near a large, ornately carved wooden box. She lifted the top and what looked to be a small orchestra, made up of miniature instruments was inside. Fleur drew her wand and waved it. Just like in Snape's class, instructions and a diagram appeared on the blackboard at the front of the room.

"Since everyone, except Harry, at least knows the basics of the waltz, we will start slowly. Harry, Viktor and I will do a short demonstration," said Hermione. "Watch what we do and then we will go over the steps." She nodded to Fleur, who tapped the box and music started playing.

The first time Harry stepped on Gabrielle's toes, she retaliated by kicking him in the shin. After the third time, he finished out the rest of the hour without another kick. At the end of the hour, they took a short break, before moving on to the next dance. For the reel they had traded partners, so Harry was now dancing with Ginny.

"Should I kick you in the shin, if you step on my toes?" she asked, grinning.

"Umm...no. I think I can manage. It doesn't seem like we will be that close for this dance."

At the end of the hour, Fleur grabbed Viktor and told everyone to take a seat. She went over and did something to the music box, then took Viktor to the middle of the dance floor.

Hermione gasped and muttered, "Por una cabeza." when the first few notes were played by a violin.

Harry's eyes opened wide, when the piano joined as he recognized both the music and the dance.

After the music and dance were finished, everyone clapped, but Harry noticed that some of the clapping was coming from the doorway. Turning to look, he noticed that Dumbledore was standing there, clapping.

"Sorry to intrude, but may I have a word with Mr. Potter and Mr. Diggory, please?" he asked. "By the way, that was an excellent performance, Miss Delacour and Mr. Krum. Very excellent. I haven't seen a tango performed so well since I was last in Rio de Janeiro, many years ago."

Harry and Cedric looked at each other and followed Dumbledore into the hallway.

"We aren't in trouble, are we?" asked Cedric.

"No my boy," said Dumbledore, smiling. "I just thought that maybe you would prefer a room with a little more privacy. I did have to remind a number of students that it was a rather nice afternoon, especially for this time of year."

"Oh," said Harry, realizing what Dumbledore was talking about.

"Follow me, please."

He led them down a seldom used corridor and up a flight of stairs. They were near the library, when they turned down another corridor. This one ended with an ornate door at the end and a similar door on each side, about halfway down. Going straight to the door at the end, Dumbledore pulled a key from his robe and opened the door. The room was fairly large, richly paneled with coffered ceiling. There was a large fireplace on one wall, with a large leaded glass window opposite. On each side of the fireplace were floor to ceiling glass fronted bookcases. In front of the hearth, was a large soft rug. Arranged around the rug were leather covered chairs, a couple of sofas and some small tables. The floor, unlike most of the rest of the castle, was wooden.

Under the window was a narrow table holding plates, glasses and flatware on one end. There was a circular table off to one side, with twelve chairs around it. The rest of the floor was open space.

Cedric let out a low whistle.

"This is one of the conference rooms, usually used for meetings with Board of Governors and such. As I don't anticipate needing it any time soon, I thought you would like to use it?"

Harry and Cedric both nodded.

"Very good," said Dumbledore. "As you two are Hogwarts' Champions, you will need to invite the others here. The door will only open to one of you or another Hogwarts' student. I would recommend designating that ability to one of more of the lovely young ladies who have chosen to help you with your endeavor."

Harry eyed the bookcases, for a second.

"Ah, yes..." Dumbledore paused in thought for a moment, "since all of you are going to be using this room, I see no harm in allowing you access, since there will be no unfair advantage to any single champion. Those tomes are part of my personal collection." He withdrew another key and unlocked the cases. "And since most of you are of age, I see no harm in this, either." He went to the sideboard and unlocked a couple of doors on it. "I will tell one of the elves to bring Miss Delacour's wonderful music box here. Have a pleasant evening. Oh, yes and if you need the service of one of the elves, ring that bell." He pointed to a bell sitting next to the stack of plates, then he turned and left, humming a merry tune.

"Why don't I go fetch the others?" asked Harry.

"No, I'll go," said Cedric.

"Don't tell Hermione about the books."

Cedric laughed, "I won't. I'll be back in about ten minutes."

When Cedric left, Harry started looking over the books. One of the first ones he spotted was _The Dancing Master_. He started looking through it and noticed that it was the instructions for over 100 dances. He sat down on one of the chairs and started looking through it. He was interrupted a few minutes late when everyone else entered the room.

"Let me get this straight," said Cho, "Dumbledore unlocked both the liqueur cabinet and gave you permission to summon castle elves?"

"Yes."

"Look at the ceiling," said Hermione. Everyone, including Harry looked up. "See the rose carved there?"

"Yeah," said Harry setting down the book.

"This is a '_sub rosa_' room. It means that anything spoken in this room is safe from any sort of scrying or listening spell. It also means that what is discussed here can only be willingly spoken about or told to anyone else, by everyone here agreeing to it. No one can force any of us to tell them what we talk about here."

"That is not all," added Fleur, "it is also safe from any spell, including Legillimency."


	4. Chapter 4

Wednesday, after dinner, Harry made his way to the room Dumbledore had provided for the Champions. There had been, finally, a formal announcement for the Ball, and Harry wanted some time alone. Already, it seemed, as if the sharks were hunting him. He thought he saw several girls looking at him with same look his cousin had when served a super-duper-triple-banana split with extra everything. He was very surprised to see the room occupied. Hermione was sitting at the table, several books opened in front of her, while she sat, chewing on the end of her quill. Fleur and Gabrielle were sitting in front of the fireplace. Fleur was sitting in one of the chairs, with Gabrielle sitting on the floor in front of her. Harry watched, fascinated as Fleur was braiding her sister's hair. Not wanting to disturb them he turned back toward the door.

"Come, sit," said Fleur.

Shrugging, Harry sat in the chair nearest to her.

"Sorry," said Harry.

"Why are you sorry?"

"For disturbing you."

"Non, you did not," replied Fleur. "I have not properly apologized."

"For what?"

"For...what did I say? 'Leetle boy, no?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, I've been called worse. I'm used to it. I've been meaning to ask...and you sort of answered, but why is Gabrielle here?"

Gabrielle stuck her tongue out at Harry.

"My parents are out of the country and my granmuzzer is not well. She is too old to care for my sister."

Gabrielle turned her head and stuck her tongue out at Fleur, who didn't notice, but Harry did.

"Oh, so you not only have to compete but you have to what...mind her?"

"Not completely. She still takes lessons. Beauxbaton also has a, what do you call it, primary school? She attends it, but it is only a day school."

"Oh, so, she wouldn't have anywhere to go, when not in class. So she's taking classes here?"

"Oui," said Gabrielle, "and, how do you say it, 'they stink'?"

Fleur said something, in French to her sister and for her part, Gabrielle bowed her head and looked properly abashed, except she was sticking her tongue out the whole time, which Fleur couldn't see.

Harry fought to keep from laughing.

"Who are you going to ask to the Ball?" blurted out the young girl, as soon as Fleur finished, both the tirade and the hair. "You can always ask me!" She added, bouncing to her feet. She ran off to the table where Hermione was working.

"Is she always so..."

"Forward? No," said Fleur. "She said that you are her big brozzer, now."

"Oh..." said Harry looking at Fleur, who was trying not to laugh.

Cedric and Cho entered, before anyone could say anything else. Viktor was a few seconds behind them. They sat on one of the sofas, while Viktor went over to the table with Hermione.

"Well, everyone's here does anyone want to practice dancing," asked Cho.

"Umm...sure," said Harry.

Hermione let out an excited gasp and an explosive "Yes!"

Cho was smiling. "I think Viktor just asked her to the Ball. Have you thought of anyone, Harry?"

"No, not really. Why?"

"No reason."

"Will you..."

"Hey, mate, think about something before you finish that," said Cedric, nearly laughing.

Harry's face grew red. "Oh, right...sorry."

Turning to Fleur, he noticed she was shaking her head.

"Sorry, but I have already been asked," she said.

"But the announcement was only made today."

"Don't worry about it, there's plenty of time," said Cedric, "I'm sure you'll find someone to ask."

"Right...if I don't I can always take Gabrielle. She's already offered."

Saturday morning, Harry made his way to the Quidditch Pitch. Viktor and Cedric were already there. After a few warm up exercises, Harry mounted his broom and flew up to meet the two in the air.

"I vas thinking, today we will do some drills. Then ve just have fun."

"Sounds good to me," said Harry. Cedric nodded.

Viktor led off, showing them some of the drills commonly used by the professional teams. After an hour, they started a game of 'follow the leader'. The rules were simple, the first one to drop out started the next round. Harry, by being the youngest started. He started slowly, then after a few minutes poured on the speed. He dived to the deck and re-enacted the bludger chase from his second year. Cedric dropped out when he missed a turn and plowed into the stands, in an eerie imitation of Draco. Viktor hung with Harry a few more minutes, until he called a halt, laughing. Looking down, Harry saw why Viktor was laughing. Cho and Cedric were sitting in the stands, obviously replaying the bludger chase, because they were very animated in their hand motions and Cho was heard saying, 'just like Malfoy, you idiot'.

"Grab your broom and get your arse in the air," yelled Harry, in a reasonable impression of Oliver Wood. Both Cedric and Cho jumped and grabbed their brooms. Fred and George, nearly fell off theirs as the were now in earshot. "Cedric, you are leader, so start."

Cedric took off, with now six following, as Ginny had joined the group in the air, too. Harry glanced over as she pulled up along side of him. She was smiling broadly.

Cho was the first to drop out as Cedric did a full loop into a barrel roll. Ginny was holding her own, especially as the twins were the next to drop out. That left Cedric, Harry, Ginny and Viktor, after about half an hour, Viktor called it, as all of them were keeping up with everything Cedric tried. Cho led off the next turn, that lasted for over an hour, until Hermione called up that it was lunch time.

"So where did you get the Nimbus," asked Harry, noticing Ginny's broom.

"Borrowed it from Fleur."

"You were good up there. Are you thinking of trying out?"

"Yeah, I want to play Chaser. But we won't need any until year after next, right?"

"Alicia and Angelina will be finished next year, so yeah, we'll need two then."

"Who's going to be captain next year?"

"Probably Angelina. I don't think Alicia wants it."

"That's good. Decide on who you are asking to the Ball, yet?"

Harry stopped and looked at Ginny. "What?"

"I asked," she said, starting to get a red face, "if you had decided on who you were asking to the Ball."

"I haven't decided yet."

"You'd better ask soon, then," she said, before heading off, a little more quickly than they had been walking.

Harry walked right passed the Great Hall and went the Champions room. Fleur, Celeste and Gabrielle were there, seated at the table eating.

"Bonjour," called out all three of them. Celeste added, "Join us? There is plenty."

There was bread, cheese, olives and some small pickles, pickled peppers, some sliced meats and a few other items that he couldn't identify, but looked good. He grabbed a plate and sat down. The three girls returned to their conversation, in French.

Harry muttered, under his breath, "I should have taken French instead of German..."

Celeste looked up and said, "Oui, you should 'ave. But you can fix it now."

"How? Those books Cho mentioned?"

"Take the Polyglot potion."

"What's that do?"

"It gives you a language."

"Why have I never heard of it before?"

"Because, it's a Seventh year potion," said Cedric, pulling up a chair next to Harry. "And if you are taking Runes, you can't take it until after your N.E.W.T.s."

"Why?"

"Because you can learn any language that way, including ones that are no longer actively spoken, which means any of the languages behind the Runes taught in class."

"Oh, I guess that's how Mr. Crouch knows so many languages, then."

"Probably. But there are downsides to it. You may learn the language and be able to read and write it, but unless you actively converse in it, your accent will be horrible."

"Oui, and that is why I 'aven't taken it," said Fleur. "I am taking Runes."

"Basically, that means I'm the only one who can take it?"

Cedric, Fleur and Celeste all nodded.

"There's also the fact that it can be a bit expensive. Especially for uncommon languages."

"Can anyone brew it or does it have to be bought? And if it can only be bought how many languages are there to choose from?"

"A couple of hundred and they range anywhere from two Galleons to over a hundred. To make it you need access to a Pensieve and some hard to find ingredients. It's not that hard to brew, but distilling the essence of the language is the hard part," said Cedric. "You can order them, one of the apothecaries will carry them."

"If I can get a hold of a Pensieve can someone show me how to make it?"

Viktor, Cho and Hermione entered the room. Harry noticed that Viktor and Hermione were walking side by side when they came in.

"What do you want someone to show you, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"How to make the Polyglot potion."

"You're lucky," she said, sighing, "you are the only one here who can take it, now. I have to wait until after..."

"N.E.W.T.s," said Harry, "Cedric was already whinging about it."

"Was not, I just mentioned that."

"Vell, if no-one else vill show you, I vill," said Viktor. "I vill even contribute a few languages. I speak Bulgarian, Russian and German."

"I speak French, Spanish, Italian and Latin," said Celeste.

"I can add Veela and Greek," added Fleur.

Cho said, "Welsh, Irish Gaelic, along with Mandarin."

"Welsh and Gaelic?"

She shrugged, "My father is Chinese, my mother is from Cardiff. Her father is from Dublin."

"Swedish," said Ginny. "I learned if from Luna's father, when I was eight. And my brothers have sent me essences for Romanian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hebrew and a couple of others."

"Harry, you've got one, too," said Hermione, staring at Harry.

"No, not that."

"Vhat, it can't be that bad."

"Please!"

Everyone was staring at Harry. "Alright, I can give Parseltongue."

Everyone's eyes went wide.

"That would be...wow. Really?"

"Incroyable!"

"Give it away? That one would probably be worth a couple of thousand Galleons a dose!" said Cho.

"There's enough interest?"

"Yes!"

"Basically, the only speakers, in modern times have been You-know-who and some bloke who was Head Boy here in the '40s," said Cedric.

"Umm...that's the same person," said Harry.

"Yeah," added Ginny, " a real berk."

"Vell, that's surprising, I vould have thought he had gone to my school. Get the Pensieve and ve vill start as soon as ve can."

"How many languages can you do at one time?" asked Harry.

"As many as you want," replied Cedric, "you make the base potion and then add as many essences as you have. You have to wait a week before each time you take it, though. The base potion is fairly easy to brew."

"What needs to be done to prepare the essences?"

"You need to extract them. There's a spell that you use to grab all the language memories and then you pull them out and place them in a Pensieve. Then you duplicate the memories and add them to an alembic, that's got a second potion in it. This will distill the language down to an essence. One drop of that essence can be added to the base potion."

"How much essence do you get?"

"About a dram," said Hermione. The others nodded. "That can infuse a couple of gallons of the base potion. A dose is about 3 drams."

"So that's what a bit over 400 doses per gallon?"

"Yes," said Cho. "The essence lasts a long time and the potion, once infused lasts about a year."

Harry asked, "What about Ginny's essences? If we add them to the base potion, it won't last long enough to..."

"You're being silly," said Ginny. "You can always extract them and give them back, in a couple of years. Besides, I think the ones Bill sent are much more than a couple of drops. They are close to a full dram."

"Oh..."

"It takes about two years before you can extract an essence from a language you've learned this way," added Cho.

"Enough of all this. We'll work on it more, after the Ball. We've got dances to learn."

They spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening practicing the various dances.

The next morning, Harry tried to see Dumbledore, but he wasn't at breakfast. So, Harry spent most of the morning working on his assignments. He noticed that having the room with several older students around tended to be more conducive to studying, than either the common room or the library. In the room, you could talk without being thrown out and there weren't the distractions of the common room.

Harry tried again after lunch and Dumbledore told him to come to his office Monday evening.

After dinner, Monday, Harry made his way to the gargoyle, before he could start guessing a password, the statue moved aside and he hear, "Come in, Harry".

Harry entered the office, looking around. Nothing had changed since he was last in it, except Fawkes was not sitting on his perch.

"What brings you here, this evening?"

"I have a couple of questions."

"I see. None about the Tournament, as you remember, teachers and staff are not allowed to assist the Champions with the tasks."

"No, not specifically about a task, but a rather general one. I was puzzled, for a while, why you let us have that conference room..."

"That is something that should have been done, from the beginning. I'm sorry to say, but several people were against the idea and didn't want to open it. I did it anyway, as is my prerogative as headmaster of one of the schools involved."

"Oh, was it something done before?"

"Yes, most of the time, there was a room set aside for the use of those involved."

"That makes sense," said Harry. "My next question is more of a personal request. We were talking and somehow the Polyglot Potion was brought up. And I want to take it."

` "I suppose that would be fine. There is nothing in the rules preventing you, but you should know that by taking it you would not be allowed to sit your O.W.L. Or N.E.W.T. Exams for Runes."

"I know and since I'm not taking that class, I wasn't planning on it, anyway. But we need a Pensieve."

"I see, you are not planning on buying a ready-made version. Yes, I suppose we can arrange a time to produce some essences. I'm a bit curious, which languages are you extracting?"

"I don't remember all of them, but each of us is contributing at least one language."

"I was not aware you knew another language, Harry."

"I'm contributing Parseltongue."

"Intriguing. Yes, it should work. If you don't mind, I would like a dose of that when you have it completed. When will you be starting on this?"

"After the Ball. We are too busy with dance lessons, until then."

Dumbledore smiled, "I see. I was fascinated when I saw that first practice. I haven't seen dancing that fine, especially that tango, since I was at a conference in Rio, back in the 1960's. Several of us went out for a night of ballroom dancing and found ourselves actually entered in a dance contest. I never seem to have time, theses days to enjoy it, besides these old knees of mine aren't quite up to the task."

"Err...thank you, I suppose. We really appreciate not having to use a classroom anymore, we were starting to get gawkers," said Harry, breaking Dumbledore from his reminiscing.

"Yes, well. Provide me a complete list of the essences you are wanting to make and we can schedule a time to extract them. Are you going to need assistance with the process? Brewing the base potion?"

"No, Viktor and Fleur both are confident they can handle that. If not, Cedric and Hermione know enough about it to fill in any gaps. We are planning on brewing enough that everyone who wants will have a complete set of the essences, if not the potion itself, as some of us will be finished with school and eligible to take it, once the Tournament is finished."

"Well, then, get me the list and we will work out a time to do it. When I see the list I may be able to add a couple of my own."

"Thank you," said Harry.

"I'm proud to see this level of co-operation," said Dumbledore, once again smiling.

_ Tuesday morning..._

Harry slowly made his way down the many flights of stairs, to the Great Hall, pondering Ginny's latest question. She had asked him, not only if he had asked anyone, 'for real' as she put it, to the Ball, but whether or not waiting was a good idea. Then she reminded him, that if all else failed, there was always Gabrielle's offer, before dashing off to join her roommates for breakfast. As he started down the final flight, someone ran into him, knocking him down. All Harry noticed was a shock of distinctive red hair disappearing around a corner. The faint sounds of laughter were coming from the bottom of the stairs.

Before Harry could stand, Ginny came running up the stairs, skidding to a halt when she saw Harry.

"Ron?" she asked.

"I guess so, all I saw was a red blur running off that way," he said, pointing down the hall. "So what did the git do now, ask Fleur to the ball?"

"Oui," said, Fleur, coming up the last few steps, to Harry's level. "He did not even finish asking, let alone wait for a response. How rude."

"Yeah, that's Ron alright," sighed Harry. Then looking at Fleur, he asked, "What would you have told him?"

"The same I tell everyone, that I am already spoken for. But what about you?," she asked, glancing at Ginny. Ginny was standing slightly behind Harry, with a hand on his shoulder.

"I...ummm...errrr..." stammered Harry, '_First Ginny, now Fleur...what is with them this morning?' _

"No, I haven't...I was going to at breakfast, but," Harry looked at Ginny. She was now biting her lip, trying not to say anything. "I guess..." a glance at Fleur, who now had a slight smile on her face. Harry also noticed that Hermione, Viktor, Cho and Cedric had joined the crowd forming around him. Harry groaned and looked around, for an escape route. Seeing none he turned and looked at Ginny. "Ginny..." Gabrielle pushed to the front and stood there, staring at Harry. "will you go to the ball with me?"

"Très bon," exclaimed Gabrielle, clapping delightedly.


End file.
